Amateur Cook, Expert Eater

Tag Archives: sour cream

Usually I am inspired by classics that I love. Usually it is something I’ve grown up eating. This week however, I was inspired by something that always lets me down. This is of course mostly my fault since the only times I’ve eaten potato salad is when it comes as part of a combo involving chicken at the grocery store. The last potato salad I had was not too long ago from Loblaws. I decided I had had enough. I had to make my own to see what a real potato salad is like.

Ingredients:

Potatoes cut into chunks roughly a sq. inch.

Sour Cream.

Chives.

1/2 Celery stalk per potato, chopped.

Black Pepper.

Salt.

Olive Oil.

Method:

Preheat oven with oven tray inside at 400f.

In a bowl combine potatoes with olive oil, salt, and pepper (all to taste).

When heated, place the oiled and seasoned potatoes onto the hot tray and put back in oven for 35 minutes.

In the meantime chop the celery and the chives.

Combine roasted potatoes with sour cream, celery, and chives in a bowl.

It turns out potato salad is a great accompaniment for chicken after all. It is a great dish you can make a lot of since it tastes great warm or cold. I often make enough potato salad to last me a few meals. I just have the potato salad hot the first time and cold all of the other times.

I’ve been MIA for the past month but I hope you are as glad as I am about being back. A friend of mine recently asked me how to make chili which is understandable as it is the perfect time of year for this delicious classic. Growing up in a Vietnamese household, the dishes we had to warm us up during fall were Vietnamese classics such as Phở. My first real memory of chili was in my first year of university where I had a can of Stagg Chili at around 2.30 in the morning while I tried to finish my philosophy assignment. In my experience, standards always drop shortly after midnight…

Last winter I wrote about some chili I made. At the time however, I was living in a place with a closet for a kitchen. This time I decided to pull out all of the stops. First off, I had to decide on the protein. Usually, chili that I have had in the past used ground beef and kidney beans. I imagine the reason for the kidney beans was provide that smooth melt in your mouth tenderness of a mouthfeel. I however, opted to go with a purer beef chili. I was still able to achieve a luxurious texture by using a beef shoulder which falls apart after a long braise. First however, was imparting an extra dimension to the flavour of the chili by barbecuing all of the ingredients. As you can see below, I grilled some tomato, onion, and poblano peppers. Roasting these veggies really intensified their flavour while also adding a bit of a smokey element. I also grilled the shoulder for good measure. I just got the skin of all of the vegetables nice and charred before I let them cool and removed all of their first layers (carcinogens don’t taste great not to mention the whole giving you cancer thing). It is also a good idea to roast some garlic in some tin foil at 350 degrees for a half an hour. I chose to go with a whole bulb of garlic for my chili. After all, I was using nearly 2 kilos of beef.

Another option is to stick a bit of star anise inside the onions prior to the grilling. As a mentioned in my post about Pho (which you can find here), cooking onions and star anise together create sulphurous compounds that amplify the taste of proteins. I highly suggest giving it a try however, it would not be the end of the world if you didn’t.

After removing all of the skin, I finely dice the vegetables and throw it all into a cold pot with the roasted garlic and some spices. I like to use coriander, cumin, and smoked paprika all in equal proportions. Just remember that you can always add more but you can never take away. That being said, I do find it important to get it right the first time as toasting the spices with the diced vegetables really intensify the flavours. After the bottom of the pot is completely covered with spices that are stuck, deglaze the pan with a healthy amount of Worcestershire sauce. I like to use what many would consider copious amounts but I find that the umami affect of Worcestershire sauce would be missed if not enough is added. For the 2kgs of beef I used about 200mL to deglaze the pot. I then added the seared beef to the pot as well as a litre of beer. I chose to go with Mill Street’s Cobblestone Stout as it is extremely rich and full bodied which I felt would add to the depth of the chili as well as aiding the development of a wonderful deep red colour. The stout also has smokey elements as well as a hint of cocoa which I absolutely adore in chili. I cover the pot and let simmer for about an hour and a half per kilogram. In this case, it meant nearly 3 hours. I then hand tore the shoulder apart and put it back into the chili to coat. What I was left with was a wonderful and luxurious texture as well as a complex and rich flavour.

After taking the chili off the heat I like to stir in some unsweetened 90% dark chocolate to taste. I really like finishing my chili with a generous portion of sour cream, spring onion, fresh chili, and chopped cilantro leaves. The homemade baguette provides that crunch you want when eating something as luxurious as this chili. To me, this is what warmth tastes like.

A bowl of chili is perfect for when it’s chilly (this will be the worst joke I will ever publish, I promise). As lame as that was, I couldn’t think of a single thing I’d rather be eating today as I stare out into the cold from my apartment window. What makes the cold worse are the various examples of crappy windows found throughout the apartment. Insulation was clearly not a top priority. There are many theories on how to deal with this problem, most of which have been described more colloquially as “ghetto”. One suggestion was to just wear more layers. Another suggestion was to plastic wrap the windows. While trying to figure out this issue I had to tide myself over with something warm and comforting.

There are also many theories on how to enjoy chili. I like to finish my chili with fresh red chilis, a dollop of sour cream and a bit of onion sprouts. Admittedly, I did not make my own bread. I have to give Pan Chancho Bakery credit for their delicious sour dough. If you live in Kingston and haven’t paid them a visit, you are missing out. They unknowingly have become the only place I get bread from. http://www.panchancho.com/